


The Spaces In Between

by RedOrchid



Series: Sliding Doors [5]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: BAMF Catarina Loss, Character of Faith, Established Relationship, Found Family, Friendship, Healing Magic, M/M, Parabatai Bond, Warlocks, the mortal cup
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-30
Updated: 2017-12-06
Packaged: 2018-12-21 20:43:44
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,057
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11952273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedOrchid/pseuds/RedOrchid
Summary: Assorted extras forClosed Doors Don't Lie.(Alec Lightwood/Magnus Bane, complete, 93K, canon-remix/canon divergence, explicit)Part I : Daylighter!RaphaelPart II: BAMF!CatarinaPart III: Magnus, Alec and the fate of the Mortal CupPart IV: Izzy and Catarina friendship





	1. A New Day

**Author's Note:**

> Not sure how many of these there will be or how often they'll be updated, but here's a place for them all, at least. Tags, characters and pairings will be updated accordingly. Right now, I've only added the ones for the ficlets that are already in progress. 
> 
> First out is Daylighter!Raphael. Please enjoy. :D

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Magnus and Raphael after the battle at the Spiral Labyrinth.
> 
> (Missing scene from [CDDL, ch 15](http://archiveofourown.org/works/7715878/chapters/24317361).)

He finds Raphael on a bench on Richard’s Street, sitting beneath a tree that’s much too small to keep all of him shaded, even in the weak light of early morning. Magnus stops a few yards away, watching how the wind rustles the tree’s leaves and allows streams of sunlight to filter through them.

Every time the sun hits his skin, Raphael jerks a little before growing still again and leaning a fraction further into the light. The sun’s rays play across his skin, but don’t sizzle and burn. Raphael’s eyes are closed, and air is passing his parted lips in shallow, unneeded breaths. There are tears running quietly from the corners of his eyes; Magnus hasn’t seen him cry in almost two decades.

“My dearest Raphael...”

He sits down on the bench and reaches out. Raphael follows his lead without protest, letting himself be pulled into a tight hug.

“There, there, my boy,” Magnus murmurs into his hair, “It’ll be alright.”

Raphael doesn’t reply, but his arms around Magnus’ back are gripping him hard enough that breathing is becoming increasingly difficult. Magnus runs a hand in slow, even circles between Raphael’s shoulder blades, keeping up a soothing stream of words, even as his own mind is reeling.

A Daylighter.

Magnus has heard the legends, of course, same as anyone who’s spent any greater amount of time around vampires. There have been occasional rumours in his own lifetime, and even though they never turned out anything real, that didn’t stop some vampires from chasing the illusion.

It shouldn’t be possible. And yet— 

He watches the way the sun falls through the leaves again—almost half of Raphael’s body more or less out of the shade now—and even as he wracks his brain, he can’t think of another explanation.

“What happened?” he asks softly, once they finally pull apart. “ _ When _ did it happen?”

“Not completely sure,” Raphael replies, his voice coming out hoarse and affected as he runs the back of his hand beneath each eye. “But it has to have been during the battle. Not like a vamp just wakes up one day, and suddenly the sun doesn’t burn anymore for no reason.”

Magnus nods, his mind running back: Valentine’s army and the twisted magic he’d laced it with; dozens of warlocks pouring out their magic to stop them—to protect the Labyrinth and everything inside of it. Perhaps something went wrong in the middle of the chaos that ensued? Some kind of combination of magic that had completely unforeseen effects?

“Do you remember getting hit by a spell? 

“No. But I guess it’s possible?” He looks up at Magnus with a sharp look in his eyes. “You think that’s what happened?”

Magnus sighs. “No. But it’s the only explanation I can think of. Unless...”

“Unless what?”

“Did you drink from any of them? The warlock-laced Forsaken, in particular?”

“No, we were all extremely careful about that,” Raphael replies. “Not a drop. Well, except for Clary, but—”

Magnus feels himself grow very still. His mind takes him back to the child Jocelyn first brought to his doorstep—a supposedly average Shadowhunter child, who nevertheless proved remarkably resilient to the magic her mother wanted him to perform on her.

“What if—?”

Raphael chuckles, shaking his head. “Come on, you’re grasping at straws. Vamps drink from Shadowhunters all the time. More than a few of them visit the bleeder dens to get their rocks off after running around town, slaying demons. If their blood had the power to give a vamp permanent sunblock, word would have spread; we’d all be tanning on a beach out in the Hamptons by now.”

Magnus sighs. “You’re right, I’m being silly.”

“Understandable. I don’t quite know what to make of this, myself.”

Magnus puts a hand back on his shoulder, and they sit in silence for a while, both of them lost in thought. On the other side of the street, the bells on the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary ring out, loud and clear in the crisp morning air.

Magnus takes in the way the muscles in Raphael’s neck pull tight in effort to keep him from turning his head towards the sound, and moves a few inches closer. 

“Have you tried to—?”

Raphael shakes his head empathically.

“You might be able to, you know. No one really knows what other abilities comes with what just happened to you.”

Raphael doesn’t reply. The hand he has gripping the edge of the bench is trembling slightly.

“I’ll come with you, if you want,” Magnus offers. “You don’t have to do this alone.”

Raphael shakes his head again, a small smile curving the side of his mouth. “Mass doesn’t start for several hours yet.”

It’s Magnus’ turn to smile. “We’re both immortal; if there’s one thing we have, it’s time.”

“I don’t—I’ve sat here, on this bench, looking across the street, for years. What if I still can’t cross it? What if I burn as soon as I step through the doors?”

Magnus reaches out, takes his hand. “Then I’m right here. Either way, I have your back. And I’m  _ great _ at conjuring water.”

Raphael laughs at that, short and broken off, as though the sound is almost punched from his lungs. “Good to know.”

“Come on,” Magnus says. “Let’s do it step by step, yes? Cross the street, walk up the steps, and then we’ll take it from there.”

He stands up, straightening his jacket and then holding out his hand.

He can see the hesitation in Raphael’s eyes—the fear shining through even as a small glimmer of hope appears as well. Magnus waits, keeps his hand held out between them.

After a long moment, Raphael takes it.


	2. When the Rain Starts to Pour

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Catarina is pulled out of her sleep by a loud bang, followed by the appearance of a familiar blue ball of fire._
> 
> (missing scene, CDDL ch 6-7)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to write Cat's POV so badly when working on CDDL. So happy to finally get to do it. :D

Catarina is pulled out of her sleep by a loud _bang_ , followed by the appearance of a familiar blue ball of fire. She reaches out and grabs it. Her body moves off the bed on autopilot, and her magic makes quick work of changing her clothes.

_Too many emergency calls lately; too many near misses and hurried evacuations._

Magnus’ voice comes through as soon as the message touches her skin, echoing slightly inside her head.

_Cat, I need you right now! Jace Wayland, New York Institute. Immediate containment. There’s a portal shard in Clary Fairchild’s room you can use to bypass the wards. Go!_

Cat frowns, even as she raises her hands and starts to create a portal. She’s known Magnus for centuries; he’s not one to send out a distress call on a whim. Still, since when does he run to the rescue of _Shadowhunters_? From the bits and pieces of conversation they’ve managed over the past few days, she’s gathered that Jocelyn Fairchild’s daughter has resurfaced and joined the New York Institute, but not much more than that. Certainly nothing to indicate that Magnus has gotten himself more deeply involved in Shadowhunter affairs.

Her portal takes her within fifty yards of the New York Institute. She reaches out with her magic and carefully scans the wards; the energy signature of the portal shard Magnus told her about jumps out at her almost immediately. She narrows down her focus until she can use it to transport herself inside, appearing in a dark bedroom where a young, female Shadowhunter is sleeping soundly.

Cat quickly weighs her options. Now that she’s inside the wards, she can tell that something is very wrong with the magical energy of the place. There’s a pulsing pressure in the air, like a massive energy source nearby is about to explode. Searching for it the old-fashioned way will take too long.

“Clary Fairchild?”

Clary stirs, then sits up and stares back at Cat with wide eyes. “Who are you? How did you get into my bedroom?”

“Magnus Bane sent me. Jace Wayland is in danger. Do you know where I can find him?”

Clary is out of bed and heading for the door before Cat has even finished her sentence. “This way. What’s wrong with him?”

“I’ll know when I get to him,” Cat replies. She follows Clary down the maze of corridors, mentally estimating time in her head. She’s pushing the one minute mark since Magnus’ message by now, meaning that if Magnus is somehow remotely containing the pressure she’s feeling, he’s bound to run out of power before long.

“This is Jace’s room,” Clary says, stopping in front of a door and grabbing the handle. “Damn it! It’s locked, and I don’t have my stele!”

“We don’t need one. Move aside.” Cat sends a burst of magic at the door, taking down the simple locking rune that’s been placed on it.

Inside the room is chaos. The door must have had a silencing rune on it as well, because the Shadowhunter lying on the bed is screaming, his body thrashing from side to side as he keeps both arms tightly wrapped around his stomach.

Cat moves forward, throws up a quick containment charm around the bed to trap the energy coming from the young man under a shield of her magic, and then goes to work. A wave of pain-relieving magic bursts out of her hands to start, flowing into the Jace, who slumps back against the pillows with a look of pure relief on his face.

With the pain under control, she moves on to run a general diagnostic. As soon as her magic connects to Jace’s essence, she knows what the source of the problem is. Jace’s energy is racing inside of him, barely contained beneath his skin. It spirals inwards, passing through a spot on his abdomen and then going deep--beyond the young man’s own body.

She pushes into the link and feels the phantom touch of Magnus’ magic brush up against hers. The _parabatai_ bond between Jace and the Shadowhunters he’s bound to has mutated to a degree far beyond what she’s ever seen before. (Not that she’s seen many, but every half a century or so, there’s that one _parabatai_ pair that dare to defy the Clave’s laws, and as a healer, she’s been called on to handle the consequences more than once.)

“Where’s his _parabatai_?” she asks Clary, even as she focuses on calming down the magic that sparks from the bond.

Clary looks up at her from where she’s clutching Jace’s hand tightly in hers. “What? Why do you need Alec?”

“No time to explain. Where is he?”

“I haven’t seen him since we split up at the DuMort earlier,” Clary says. “Probably in his room?”

Cat is just about to explain that she can feel the _parabatai_ bond extend past the Institute wards when Jace starts coughing up blood.

“Jace!”

“Find out where his _parabatai_ is,” Cat tells Clary, even as she sends another wave of magic into Jace’s body to look for whatever is causing the bleed. “He’s with Magnus, somewhere outside these wards. And hurry.”

“I’ll get Izzy,” Clary replies. “She’ll know how to find them.”

She runs out of the room, and Cat puts her mind fully to containing the magic that’s wreaking havoc with Jace’s body, all while trying to fix the damage it’s causing. She gets the bleed that put the blood in Jace’s lungs under control, only to find another one that’s even more dangerous. She grits her teeth and works faster.

Clary returns with a dark-haired Shadowhunter at her heels, one who takes one look at the situation and immediately jumps into the fray, pulling out a stele and activating a healing rune on Jace’s skin.

“What can I do?” she asks Cat, even as practiced fingers run down to Jace’s wrist to check his pulse.

“Just keep his airways clear for now,” Cat responds, swearing quietly to herself as her magic comes across more damaged tissue. “And we need to find his _parabatai_.”

“Is the bond acting up again?” Izzy asks, and Cat finds herself raising an eyebrow in surprise.

“Again?”

“Alec told me it was giving him trouble the other day,” Izzy replies, suddenly looking cautious, as though she’s already said too much. Cat doesn’t blame her—if this girl knows what is going on with the bond, then she also must know how important her silence is on the subject.

“I see. Do you know where Alec is right now?” she asks instead. “I need both him and Jace here in the same room to properly stabilise them.”

“Alec went over to Magnus’ after his shift,” Izzy replies. “He hasn’t reported back, so he should still be there.”

Cat nods. “I’ll need the portal shard from Clary’s room to get us all out of here.”

“I’ll get it,” Clary pipes in, and then she’s gone from the room.

“Will you come with us? I could use another person as an anchor,” Cat asks Izzy, who’s running her stele over Jace’s body with a look of pure focus on her face.

“Of course. Hang on, his pulse is speeding up again.”

“Let’s just hope Magnus has thought to drop the wards on his loft,” Cat comments as Clary comes back again, portal shard in hand. “Otherwise, we’re in for a very uncomfortable recoil.”

She holds out her hand and pulls on the air around it until she feels a familiar whooshing sensation. She sends another burst of magic towards Jace’s body, levitating him off the bed.

“Let’s go.”

They all step through the portal, and to Cat’s relief, it lets them out in Magnus’ loft, exactly as planned. What she wasn’t quite as prepared for was appearing right next to Magnus, who’s wearing nothing but a pair of black underwear.

Magnus looks up as they arrive, the smile that he puts on his face as bright and confident as ever.

“My dear Catarina. Thank you for helping out at such a dreadfully early hour.”

Cat feels a smile of her own start to tug at the corner of her mouth. “What are old friends for?” She tilts her head towards Alec, who’s clearly naked beneath the sheet Magnus has thrown over the lower part of his body. “Are you going to tell me what’s going on?”

“Well, I’d say it isn’t what it looks like, but I’m afraid I’d be lying,” Magnus replies, to which both Cat and Izzy let out matching snorts of amusement. Then he takes a couple of steps closer to Catarina, and lowers his voice. “How many pieces of the puzzle are you still missing?”

“Not many, I don’t think.” She splits her magic into two currents, sending one wave into Jace, and the other into Alec. The bond completes the circuit almost immediately, letting her magic travel through on a loop. “What about you?”

“I’ve got the gist of it, I think,” Magnus replies. Cat sees a shadow pass over his face for a moment, before Magnus puts the smile back on his face and throws his arms out.

“Right, Clary, Isabelle,” he says, gesturing at the girls Cat brought along with her. “If you’d please pick one of these fine men each and go stand on either side of them, Cat’s going to kick things up a notch—let’s watch the master healer in action, shall we?”

He turns to Cat next. “Let me know what you need.”

 _Anything at all_ , the expression in his eyes quietly adds, and Cat wonders anew what the hell it is her friend has gotten himself into.

Still. First things first.

She closes her eyes and focuses on the two young men in front of her, reaching out with her magic to try to put things right.


	3. Allegro, Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Magnus, Alec, and what happened to the Mortal Cup.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been wanting to write this scene since I first wrote the magical cloak room at the warlock restaurant in chapter 9. Almost a year later, I finally found a place where it worked within the 'verse. \o/

“Welcome to Allegro, may I have your reservation, please?”

Magnus waves his hand to cancel the umbrella charm that’s been keeping him dry in the rain, and leans a little closer to the intercom. “Alec Lightwood, party of two.”

“Come right in, Magnus,” Antoine’s familiar voice answers him. “Mr Lightwood is waiting for you.”

The door opens and Magnus steps inside. Alec is waiting for him inside the lobby, talking quietly with Antoine. The smirk on Antoine’s face when Magnus enters makes Magnus’ excitement about dinner go up a notch—it  _ is _ their official one month anniversary, after all.

“Magnus, always a pleasure,” Antoine says, walking over to Magnus to take his coat. “I’ll leave the two of you alone; you know where to find me if the elevator gives you trouble on your way up.”

As soon as he’s out of the room, Alec moves in close, sliding an arm around Magnus’ waist and pressing their bodies together as he leans in for a kiss. Magnus is all-too happy to oblige, letting his own hands fall to Alec’s hips in reply, as the kiss deepens.

“We should pull ourselves together; I have something important to show you,” Alec murmurs, and then immediately contradicts himself by leaning in for another kiss. 

Magnus chuckles. “Should we go up to the restaurant, then?”

“Not exactly,” Alec replies, pressing a last, smiling kiss against the corner of Magnus’ mouth before pulling away and leading Magnus over to the room of magical storage off to one side. “This way.”

“I already put my weapons into a locker, but there’s something else I wanted to check in,” he continues, pulling out his stele from the holster on his thigh. “Or, actually, I was wondering if you’d be willing to check it in for me.”

“All right?”

Alec puts his stele to one of the lockers, his hand hesitating for a split moment before drawing a swift locking rune into the wood. The door of the locker clicks open, and Alec reaches inside, pulling out a plain-looking, black drawstring bag.

Magnus holds out his hand. The bag is quite light, but whatever is inside still has a solid feel to it. Magnus traces the dimensions of it with his right hand, and his breath catches in his throat when his fingers discover a decidedly cup-like shape.

“Is this—”

“Yeah,” Alec replies quietly, his eyes darting quickly towards the entrance to make sure they’re alone. “There’s a lot of new recruits at the Institute since the battle; I want this kept by someone I know I can trust.” 

The catch in Magnus’ breath travels down to his heart. “What about your position as Head of the Institute?”

Alec’s shoulders stiffen, and then he lets them drop again with a shrug. “Ever since Inquisitor Herondale found out that Jace is her grandson, she’s been hinting heavily that he should replace me as Head. Even as co-Head, he won’t be easily pushed out by the Clave, and since I’m his  _ parabatai _ , I get to coast by on his merits.”

“Alec…”

Alec shrugs again. “It’s nothing. I’m used to it.”

Magnus takes a step closer, letting one hand come to rest lightly on Alec’s arm. “That doesn’t make it all right.”

Alec closes his eyes and leans into the touch. Magnus lets his hand run slowly up his arm, to his neck and then his face, cradling it gently in the palm of his hand. He loves the way Alec melts into his touch, the way a small smile starts curving at the corner of his lips and some of the tension seeps out of his shoulders.

Alec reaches out as well, sliding his hand around the back of Magnus’ head and leaning in so that their foreheads press together. They stay like that for a while, just breathing each other in. Magnus feels his magic hum beneath his skin, reaching out for Alec, wanting to connect. He lets himself savour it for a moment longer and then pulls back, holding up the drawstring bag between them.

“What do you say we finish this and then go upstairs and get some dinner?”

Alec nods, and the smile at the corner of his mouth grows a little. “I’d love to.”

Magnus leans in and presses a quick kiss to his cheek, then turns to one of the lockers and channels his magic into the wood. He places the Mortal Cup inside and then closes it again, adding an extra level of protection to the pre-existing magic with a flourish of his hand.

“There, all done,” he says, turning back towards Alec and reaching out to take his hand. “Dinner?”

“I’m getting the seared tuna we had here last time,” Alec replies, taking Magnus’ hand and pulling him out of the cloak room, toward the elevator that leads up to the restaurant proper. “And then maybe we can get dessert to take back to the loft?”

Magnus’ heart does another flip. Alec’s hand in his is grounding and elating, all at once. He tightens his grip, suddenly desperate for something solid to hang on to.

“Lead the way, Alexander.”


	4. Letting Go

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Izzy blames herself for what happened. Catarina offers tea and perspective.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This extra came from a meme prompt (from [this meme](http://question-meme.tumblr.com/post/158493859602/expanded-universe-ask-game-for-fanfic-writers)):  
>  _"7. What is the (unshared) opinion of one of the non-main characters re: the events of the fic?"_ , sent to me by @only_1_a. Izzy POV! Finally! \o/
> 
> Time-wise, this takes place sometime between CDDL and AAFTA.

Izzy keeps watching them. She knows she shouldn’t; it’s not her business, and she’s not responsible for her brothers’ messes. She also knows that there are other people involved now, professionals, even, with the necessary training and experience to help Jace and Alec sort things out.

She still can’t stop. It’s turned into an almost visceral reaction by now, a heavy, uneasy feeling in her gut whenever she sees the two of them alone together. It’s not logical–she knows it’s over between them, and has been for a very long time. She sees the lightness in Alec’s step these days, the way the corner of his mouth curls upwards whenever his phone buzzes with a new message. Only last week, she accidentally walked in on him and Magnus having dinner together in Alec’s office, talking and laughing as they ate. Alec hasn’t made any official announcements yet, but Izzy can’t remember ever seeing him like this. Happy. Light. Confident. So obviously in love, and not caring if anyone sees it.

Magnus is going to be the love of Alec’s life; Izzy feels the truth of it all the way down to her bones whenever she looks at her brother.

And still the past won’t let her go.

“I just feel like I should have known,” she tells Cat, for what has to be the thousandth time by now. “Jace stopped hooking up with people when we went out. He pretended to still do it, but my friends stopped gossiping about having been with him. I should have put two and two together.” 

“It wasn’t your fault,” Cat replies, the same way she always does. “A mutating  _parabatai_  bond is unpredictable. It’s dangerous. And it tends to isolate the bonded pair from the other people in their lives.”

“Still, I–” She trails off, not quite knowing what it is she wants to say.

“Look at it from a different angle,” Cat says. “Say you had known. How would that have changed things?”

“I could have stopped them. Or helped them, somehow, at least.”

“How?”

Izzy meets her eyes for a long moment, and then sighs, looks away. “I don’t know. I just hate that they didn’t tell me. I wish I could go back in time and punch both of them in the face.”

Cat tries and fails to hide a smile behind her tea cup. “I wouldn’t recommend it. Time travel never ends well. More than one warlock have tried it, and some accidentally end up with a life-debt to a goat.”

It’s Izzy’s turn to laugh. “Please tell me that was Magnus?”

“Ragnor. But he likes to claim that it was all Magnus’ fault, so similar thing, really.”

“Sounds like quite a story.”

“I’ll let Ragnor tell it himself, when you meet him,” Cat replies. “Speaking of, I need to portal over to his lair to pick up a spellbook this afternoon.”

She puts down her empty cup and waves her hand, vanishing the dirty dishes in front of her. “You could come with me if you wanted?” she continues. “Ragnor will never admit it, since you’re a Shadowhunter, but he’s been dying to meet you.”

The last of the heavy feeling goes away, and Izzy feels a surge of gratitude towards Cat for once again helping to steer her mind in the right direction.

“I’d love to,” she replies. “Between the stories I get from you and Magnus, I feel like I already know him.”

“Then follow me,” Catarina says. She stands up and turns away from the table, opening a portal in front of her. “England awaits.”

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are love! <3
> 
> Feel free to leave prompts for scenes/extras you'd like to see in this 'verse. Either in the comments here or [on my tumblr](http://actuallyredorchid.tumblr.com/).


End file.
